My Blue Eyes
by RP Angel
Summary: Alternate Universe: The seemingly soul survivor of the brutal southern wars finds themselves in a busy city and scratching by in their new existence.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: SM owns all Twilight characters and I'm just making them play and bend to my wishes.

Many thanks to:

- PetersShugarTits for helping me add depth to this.

- Sushi Loves Whitlock for her beta skills.

My Friend and Mate on a few accounts, but my most favorite one being our Peter and Charlotte.

* * *

My eyes closed for the briefest of moments and I could still see the terror that ripped through the camp. Pieces of my comrades were flying by me and I was dodging each of them while fending off my own attackers. A well placed strike dislodged my attacker's head and sent it flying from his body. I wasn't hated but I wasn't adored so in the midst of my defending myself, I found several of my own troops having switched sides vying for my ass, turncoats, the lot of them. I trained them, I knew each of their weaknesses and exploited every one to save my skin.

"Where is the Major?!" someone screamed as their head was then torn from them. I didn't know, no one did. I had lost sight of him and no mattered how hard I listened for his voice, the crashing of bodies drowned out almost everything. I was up in the branches of a barren tree looking for the Major but it was no sooner brought to the ground and more hands were at me to rip me apart. More limbs flew and the sounds of pain that accompanied them; I was ruthless, I didn't care who I needed to go though to get out of this, I just wanted the one person who had become my greatest friend at my side.

Our numbers were dropping faster and faster, the demise of our army was at hand. Maria's head was being paraded around in a preemptive victory celebration. "I need to get out of here." I mumbled to myself as another fell to pieces at my feet. I had made my decision, I wasn't going to be killed, not like this; not like I never existed at all. I saw a break in the fighting and I made my escape through a thick stand of trees to my freedom. I was free. I ran as fast and as far as I could and after several hours I turned to look to see if I was being followed. I hoped to see the Major behind me but after a few days, I assumed the worst.

A loud blast from a car horn broke the spell of memories taunting me and my eyes opened to a busy street before me filled with humans bustling about. Over a hundred years later, after those dark times, I still felt like I was running from the fight. I hadn't seen or heard of any survivors from that day, but didn't dare go back to check. I could only hope that Jasper got away, he was one of the better ones I met. He was now Jasper to me and not the Major, those times were long gone now. As for the rest, I didn't give them any further thought, they were nothing to me now. Now was a far cry from what those days were to what they are now for me. The chaos of war was replaced with this busy city and the few million humans that inhabited it. I must have been crazy when I decided to settle here, but then it wasn't as big as it was then either. It grew up around me in time, and in time I learned what it took to live around humans rather than wanting to slaughter them in a blood lust madness. It took years, decades but I managed to curb the monster that craved to pull on every vein in sight. It was easy when I came here, there was so much growth and migrants passing through that the ones I took were not missed. No one ever came looking and the local crime lords took all the blame for missing members of the other side. I pegged them against one another for years and it served to hide me well. It was a good thing I bothered to practice my restraint as I did because now, with a camera in the hands of nearly every human around, one misstep and I'd be discovered and the others, the ones I was keeping away from, the ones I ran away from could easily find me and I'd end up like my fallen comrades.

I took a deep breath in and the smell of the street entered deep within me. It reeked of the heat that scorched thought the daylight hours, the sweat of the humans around me, and the mustiness of the setting evening sun. It stank badly, but a bustling city was where my best and easiest hunting took place. A few glances around through the dark lenses of my sunglasses, and I saw all that I needed to see. There was a group of humans I was familiar with, heading down the street and they were known to the locals as drug pushers. Wherever they went, there were always easy pickings. I wasn't the lazy sort of vampire but hell, food is food and even though my methods were more of a scavenger, it worked for me. I pushed myself off from where I was leaning against, appearing as if I was done resting and ventured out onto the streets with the crowds.

Who was it going to be tonight? I thought to myself, a banker, lawyer, a bum. The menu was endless and it always varied from day to day, year to year. Illegal aliens were always a treat; they even hid from their own families. Months could go by before anyone would raise a red flag to their whereabouts, but by then, if I did a good job in getting rid of what was left of them when I was done, they were truly lost. I lived to find them as they usually stuck to those of their own kind in order to avoid the authorities. I was also on the constant lookout for illegal massage parlors that offered the additional services of young women who were forced to pay offset their passage to the free world. Nothing was free, nothing worth having anyway. When those girls went missing, no one asked or ever sought them out.

My light steps echoed off the surrounding hard brick and stone walls, but only I was privy to hear them. I needed to find my meal, and quickly, but the group I was following separated and went into different directions. I wasn't amused with my plan failing so quickly. My eyes were dark, I could feel them now and the circles underneath them were a bit too sullen for my liking. My throat called to me, prickling away at my control over the monster that was begging to be released. Keeping my sunglasses firmly affixed, I moved swiftly through the light crowd of people and scoped out my possible prey.

"No. No. Maybe. Too old. Looks like they have too many friends." I had to be careful, and choosing a body to feed from in this way was risky. Picking the wrong person would mean a lot of press and talking on the streets. Last thing I needed were humans reaching out of their comfort zone, daring to look and remember me in places where bad things happened. I needed to keep them oblivious to the dangers on the street, I needed them to keep listening to that little voice inside their heads that told them to not notice me, the predator among them.I needed to stay the enigma in their minds when recalling any details to the authorities that might link them to a missing person they know and were with before they ended up as my meal.

Seeing the situation for what it was, was getting harder.

I was debating going to a seedier part of the city when I caught sight of a set of the purest blue eyes. They caught my attention for just a moment, and a moment is all I needed. I noticed how weary they were around the edges and then, they were gone. I felt a soft bump from behind as I was stopped for that briefest of moments. My meal selected itself for me as I grumbled low and turned to follow the woman, the memory of her scent locked in my mind. The bleach blond, whose roots could use some touching up, offered no apology in inadvertently striking me, and neither would I when I struck at her neck with my teeth.

I followed her from a distance and watched her take a few steps down into a rundown tavern. The place was somewhere I've been before and even with the renovations through the years, I could still find my way around. I followed her down into the darkness and cornered her easily enough. When I determined that she was looking for her next hit of drugs and needed an extra forty dollars for it to happen, I pulled out a little wad of bills. Flashing a hundred dollar bill made her completely compliant and willing to do anything for it. A moment of privacy and my well placed teeth was all I needed to finish the girl off. She didn't scream, didn't struggle and welcomed death.

I found my way out of the place through the back door, the secondary fire escape, that was required for places like this and deposited her slumped corpse down into the sewer through a dirty street grate. I wiped my hands down and pulled out my little compact mirror and checked my face for any smudges of blood.

"Not a drop spilled. Well done Charlotte." My eyes glowed brightly in their ruby splendor and the circles underneath them were gone. I looked up to the sky, it was lightening up and I needed to find shelter from the sun soon. The man with the blue eyes was still on my mind and there he would remain there for eternity.

* * *

Notes: Yes we are seeing this though Charlotte's eyes, surprise! That's the AU part of the story and I hope it was a pleasant surprise.


	2. Chapter 2

All recognizable characters are not my own but making them bend to my thoughts is.

* * *

Within a few minutes, I was back home in my apartment and had stripped off my hunting clothes in to more casual ones. I liked where I had settled myself within the city. The street out front was relatively quiet and in the back, there was a little garden area that backed onto a small park only the surrounding buildings had access to.

On cloudy or rainy days, I found myself drifting back there to find some semblance to where my eternal journey began. Standing by the shaded window, I listened to the city outside as it came alive as the sun started rising steeply in the sky. Waiting out the day was never an easy thing for me to get accustomed to. When I first came here, and realizing I needed to stay hidden, I took to the tunnels below the city that were used for drainage. It was entirely too revolting of a place to spend one's time so I scouted around for abandoned places. Warehouses in the industrial area served my purposes rather well, but I found myself being a bit too restless there so the hunt continued for a better place. I had started to miss the old days when I could be out in the middle of nowhere and not have to worry about being discovered until I found this place.

The neighbourhood back then wasn't as hospitable as it is now and the troublemakers soon started disappearing after my arrival. The police back in those days often turned a blind eye to gangsters gone missing or found a few weeks later rotten. It was convenient and the good humans, the ones who wanted to settle down and breed more humans, were alright in my books. The earlier ones, the ones that knew the history of the place, kept their kids on the straight and narrow path for fear of having history repeat itself. That was several decades past. The newer ones weren't so careful but then again, the police tended not to turn a blind eye anymore either to missing persons; good or bad.

The last few decades of living in the city had turned me into a great reader during the daylight hours. When I was not lost within the pages of my latest book, I was peering out the window and watching the world go by outside. Knowing what was happening around me was now a key point in my surviving and using my superior hearing was invaluable. Some nights, rather than going out for a hunt, I'd sit and listen to those around me.

It passed the time but it was daylight and many of my neighbours were out at their places of employment that tested my nerves and bored me. My eyes darted about as the humans went about their daily business outside; many were heading to work as per usual and others running for buses or cabs or just for the sake of running to stay in shape. I started wondering where the blue eyed man was, where he lived, what he did during the day time to earn his living in this city. The image of his eyes, his face came back to my perfect memory and recalled his features once again in my mind. I spent a few hours like this, in a daze, before I came back to reality at the sound of screaming far below only realizing it was from laughter. I decided in that instant that the man with the blue eyes clearly interested me enough to seek him out again.

The following evening I returned to the same place where I saw him and found a corner to wait where I wouldn't be noticed. Hours passed and there was no sign of him, or any familiar human. I broke off my watch and headed home, very unimpressed at myself. This pattern of failure continued for several more nights until it was Friday night again and I had taken up a position on a rooftop nearby. I cast my gaze down on the endless stream of foot traffic that resembled the crimson flow in veins, admiring the simplicity of it all as I waited. I mused over the hum of beating hearts mixed in with the purr of traffic and the choir of voices when _he_ emerged from a doorway. He looked around and seemed to pause until a friend's hand tapped his shoulder to draw his attention away and off they went.

I followed their path along the darkened rooftops only to watch them disappear behind a heavy door with Tavern etched into it. "Do I dare?" Before I was able to reason my way out of proceeding, my curiosity got the better of me and I was floating down between two buildings in the narrow space and the tips of my feet touched the ground. I brought out a little case of colored contact lenses and put a set of them on. Always careful to check my surroundings, I gave myself an approving nod that I wasn't noticed and headed for the place where blue eyes was.

Once inside the place, I spied the companion sitting at the bar, but there was no sign of him. I thought to myself, "Sitting at the bar, I might be approached and disturbed. Sitting at a table with a second empty chair will buy me a little privacy." I found a place off to the side and sat down to watch. This place wasn't much better than my usual places where I hunted, but the bar area where the alcohol was kept was noticeably nicer than most. The table that I was sitting down was a heavy wooden construction that may have been as old as me and the numerous etchings of names and phone number in the wood gave it that character that was indicative of places like this.

It didn't take long for a waitress to approach and ask me for my order. I rattled off the first name of a beer that I saw advertised above the bar and she quickly went to go get it for me. She returned quickly with a bottle and a glass with some ice in it. I asked her to start a tab to which she nodded and went off to her next table.

The smell of beer was one of few things that I could tolerate smelling as I poured some into the glass and waited for Blue-eyes to show up. It didn't take long until he emerged from behind the corner and sat down beside his friend at the bar. They started talking about this and that - topics I couldn't really quite follow along with without knowing the root of the story. It seemed like they were their own little world until his friend perked up and said, "You should really get back in there, Peter.'' To which he silently nodded.

'Peter'.Peter was his name and it rolled off my tongue as if it had always been there. It was fitting for the man with the blue eyes.

"Here, let me get the ball rolling for you." The friend called the waitress over and had another beer sent to my table much to my surprise.

_Had I been so obvious and lonely looking that I had been noticed_? I guess so, I mused.

"Fucker, I don't need your help!" Peter sounded a little irate at the friend's gesture and didn't even bother to look back at me.

The friend nudged Peter's arm, "Sure you don't be a total ass and go say hello to her." His friend motioned over at me.

Peter ran a hand through his hair and muttered under his breath, "Here's to getting my ass shot down." He took a swig from his bottle of beer and looked at me as I dropped my eyes down to look into my nearly empty purse. "At least you've got great taste, fucker."

I couldn't exactly place what I had felt at that moment; I was usually the hunter stalking my prey, waiting to make my move. But this, this was entirely different - I was being approached and I wasn't entirely in charge of the outcome; if he wasn't going to be my meal at the end of the night. I wondered with every step he took what his pick up line would be. I wondered how he would break the ice, what he could possibly say for me to go back to his place - if that was even his intent at all. Of course it would be, I'm spectacular, a man wouldn't_not_ attempt to capture my attentions.

Peter finally reached where I was and motioned towards the empty chair that sat across from me. I gave him a quick nod approving that he could sit down. He took the chair and turned so his back was towards his friend and sat down, legs stretched out beside the table before setting his drink down on the old etched wooden surface of the table. I was all ears and I felt the venom in my eyes burning at the contacts as I watched him intently. He looked up from the lip of his bottle and chuckled to himself as he shook his head.

"I'm just gonna sit here for a bit to shut my friend over there up and then leave you to enjoy your night, Miss." He lifted his bottle and took a long drink.

"Seems like you got this all figured out then, I guess I don't get a say." I raised my brow as he set his bottle down.

Peter half spun his bottle on the table, completing the water ring mark. "Darlin' trust me when I say that you don't want to waste your time with me, I'm damaged goods." He was dead serious and it didn't sound like a please pity me line I often overhead in bars from guys working that angle.

There it was again, that look of sorrow in his eye. He aged slightly at that moment and I watched it take over his whole body, heart weakening, pulse slouched ever so slightly more.

"We are all damaged goods and you're nothing special in that department so you're going to need to put a little more effort into sloughing me off." I took what looked like a sip of beer from my glass without consuming any.

"How about I insist on you tossing your drink at me to sweeten the deal for you? Girls like doing that right? It's in the movies. It'd be fun for you." His lip curled up slightly as did mine at the offer.

"Tempting, very tempting." I sat back in my chair and looked around the bar. "I suppose you'd want me to yell at you too?" He nodded to the affirmative. I ran my fingers along the sides if the full glass before me that was collecting condensation. "No. I don't think so. There aren't enough people here to make it worth my while and it'd be wasted effort on my part." I shrugged softly to which he let out a breath to turn his head back to his friend, who made some gesture to encourage him, but he was determined to not to succeed with me.

My feelings were getting hurt; wasn't I enough? Was he that broken? I slid the beer that landed on the table earlier before his arrival towards him when I noticed he was nearly done with what was in his hand. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not much of a drinker so you'll have to finish that for me."

His hand went for it without argument. "Are you trying to get me drunk Miss?" His hand wrapped around the bottle easily as he drew it towards him.

"Well what if I am? You might get a bit more hospitable if you were drunk." Two more bottles hit the surface of the table. "See? Your friend thinks so too."

One

Two

Three

Four - I sized him beers should loosen him up enough. More bodies were filtering into the place and it was making my skin crawl, but you wouldn't know it to look at me as I kept my look calm.

I looked over to Peter as he looked at his bottle and I shook my head; somewhat disappointed. "Well I see there is no changing your mind so I'll leave you to your drinks as it's clearly more interesting than me." I got up and left a few dollars on the table for the waitress. I planned on coming back here and getting in good graces with the wait staff was always a smart idea. I was disappointed, it was written on my face as I approached his friend at the bar. "Your friend wasn't interested." I walked out the door and onto the streets. I felt like I needed to hunt, but not for nourishment. "Get a grip Char."

"Did you break a nail sugar?" A familiar voice from the past reached out and drew me in.

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked down a darkened alleyway. My eyes focused in on the ruby hues as they peered at me. "Major?" I frowned at my error. That life was long gone, much like the South had fallen with the human Civil War. "Jasper." I smirked and motioned for him to come out of his hiding and he stepped out of the darkness and fell into step with me easily. "You look like shit Jasper."

"Well its good to see you too, Miss Charlotte and may I say how the city has done wonders for your charm and grace as a lady." He chuckled as he kept his eyes down. His long unkempt locks of hair shielded any onlookers from noticing his eyes as we slowly walked along.

"I'm no lady and you damn well know it." I hooked my arm around his as I slowly lead us back to my place. "Took you long enough to find me. Where there any other survivors?"

Jasper shook his head no. "We got a lot to catch up on and I have a story for you, but not here. I'm guessing you have a safe place for us to talk?"

His feet hit the sidewalk in pace with mine as I nodded yes. His boots were worn and his jeans and shirt smelled like the South; heat infused with the summer scents of blooming flowers and green. It was hard to see him looking down and out like this, but his spirit wasn't as faded. "I'm taking you to my place and we'll get you cleaned up and we can talk. And no, I didn't break my nail, I was shot down."

"I should make you go first then?" Jasper teased. "Or did you want to go finish the guy off? I can wait."

"There's nothing to tell. He didn't even ask me for my name, said he was too broken. I might find him again and at least enjoy him despite of it." I knew I was filling up with feelings Jasper was picking up on by how as he pulled me closer to him.

"Pity eating was never your thing Char, but what's got you there in the first place?" Jasper asked as we turned a corner and made our way down the last block.

"He had pretty eyes, the bluest I've ever seen." I recalled them and sighed. "I think I saw something in them but I guess I was wrong." I saw the sorrow and loneliness I sometimes felt looking back at me, but that was the last thing I wanted to tell Jasper because I didn't want this little reunion of ours to revolve around that.

"That's a bucket of horseshit if I ever heard it. You were never wrong with what you guessed about folks, so he must have some issues. Do you want me to stalk his ass for you, I'm not busy these days."

I shook my head no and fell silent in my thoughts.

I started up the steps to my place, fishing the keys from out of my pocket and in a few seconds, we were behind a closed door. Jasper looked around as I got a set of towels ready for him in the bathroom and pointed him towards the shower. As soon as his filthy things landed outside, I had them in the washer. We had never beenthe shy types about our nudity, thank God.

"There's soap in there if you remember what its used for." I heard him snort and start whistling a long forgotten tune from the days when we were in between battles. The water eventually stopped and out he came dripping wet with nothing but a towel around his waist. "I'd offer you some refreshments, but I've got nothing handy at the moment that would arouse suspicion with the humans, I don't get guests, ever."

Jasper took up a spot in front of a shaded window and started talking as I settled myself down to listen. If it was worth him telling it, then there was something there that needed to be heard.

"I saw you taking off Char, I was glad you did because it went from bad to worse. I was able to keep the enemy at bay, but then I saw Maria's head on a stake and the bottom fell out. She and I were never a thing you know?" He turned to look back at me on the couch and I nodded.

I knew she was only using him for his gift and brains on the battlefield so her demise would have affected him I hoped. I think she tolerated me because I thought on the same level as Jasper and was a good sounding board for his ideas, taking note of pertinent things that more often than not led us to victory. I was useful to her, hence I lived.

Jaspers tone grew serious as his voice fell to a whisper. "Well what you missed, and thank the stars that you did, was the third army that hit the field."

I sat up slightly. "Third army Jasper? There was only us, I'm sure of it." I frowned at my failure to be less than informed. I had made a mistake and wasn't pleased with this failure even if it was a very old one.

"When I say third army, I mean less than ten, but the damage they did in the span of five minutes, you could have sworn there were more. They didn't care who they slaughtered or what side they were on; they just kept going. I was able to get to cover and watch them. If they got close, I'd lace them with enough doubt and uncertainty that they turned away not being the wiser as to why they suddenly felt it." Jasper shook his head.

I knew it was hard for Jasper to remember that part of his life, just as it was difficult for me, so I just waited for him to take the time he needed to recompose himself.

"With you gone away, and to safety, I decided that there was nothing or no one left I needed to fight for, so I watched and listened to them as they interrogated a few of the enemy survivors. They called themselves the Volturi and some of them that were present were talented. I dare say even more so than myself." Another pause. "I don't think they saw me, or you escaping, but I didn't want to take the chance of either of us being captured so I waited for my chance to get away. The little witch they had with them, I saw pretty clearly what she could do, felt it too. Pure pain. Real pain, more than I could bring about in someone and there was no way I'd lead that to you, you were a good one. So I kept myself away from you just incase they had figured me out and were following me to any survivors. It took until now to know that they weren't and that's why I decided to come to you now. You were a damn hard one to track down, you know." Jasper sighed. "They are bad - worse than Maria, Char, and may I suggest that you never set foot inside of Italy, ever."

I nodded at Jasper and rose to pat him on the back. "I'm just glad you made it through that Jasper. It took a few years but I came to realize that all that fighting was for nothing. Just look out there, the humans would have discovered us eventually with their building and settling; and then what would have we have gained? No Jasper, I'm glad we got out of there when we did." I backed off and went to toss his things into the a few seconds, I heard Jasper hard on my heels and standing at the door watching me be all domestic.

"So tell me then Char, is that all it takes to get your heart go pitter patter these days, a pretty set of eyes?" I heard Jasper laugh softly.

"Oh lord, Jasper, really? I've seen my fair share of pretty boys, yourself included, and no, it would take the heavens to open up and the almighty himself to get a pulse going through me." I sorted through a pile of clean clothes and found biggest shirt I owned and a pair of sweatpants. "Sorry, this is all I've got."

Jasper took one look at them and shook his head. "I'm good waitin'."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Fine. Makes no difference to me if you strut around here as your mama made ya." I brought the stack of clean clothes back to my room and put them away.

Jasper wandered back into the living room and took up his watch again at the window, I could hear the water from his still wet hair dripping every so often onto the floor. "So you haven't seen anyone since then Char?"

"There's been two in all; on separate occasions. They were passing through and I didn't recognize them, didn't bother making contact either." I walked back into the room, setting myself down. "I didn't see the need in saying hello to them either. I considered it when the second one came, about fifteen years later after the first one, but she didn't stick around and I was already settled here. I didn't need or want a stranger thinking they could pop into my place whenever they felt like it. Besides, what was to stop them from blowing my cover or taking what I've worked to build myself here." I stopped and looked up to find Jasper's eyes fixed on me. "You're welcome anytime, but I'll bust your chops if you mess stuff up."

Jasper made a mock face of horror at me, waving his hands by his face. "Oh I'm scared Charlotte. What do you say we go out tonight and wrestle up some grub and fine some drunks to scare till they piss themselves?"

Jaspers mischievous mood was contagious in the worst kind of way and I could feel him drawing me in, convincing me to his plans of a fun night out. "We can do that but only if we stick to a certain part of the city where we can get away with it."

"Deal." Jasper clapped his hands together and I laughed at the fun we were going to have.


End file.
